RTI activist: ECI following deliberate doctrine of opacity

IN a scathing indictment of the Election Commission of India (ECI), RTI activist Venkatesh Nayak has accused the poll body of operating under a "deliberate opacity doctrine"—systematically denying even the most basic information it claims to collect from across the country.

- Bansy Kalappa @ Bengaluru

"Appealing against these evasive replies is a waste of time," he said, pointing to a pattern where the ECI's first appellate authority "invariably upholds them without batting an eyelid." The second appeal process, he warns, is so paralysed by an understaffed Central Information Commission—with eight vacancies—that hearings are unlikely within a year.

In his first RTI intervention, Nayak probed the Bihar Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls. But under law, no one can slip into the rolls without an Electoral Registration Officer's approval after a detailed 13-step verification, he said.